Electric battery.



H. DE MABTIS.

ELECTRIC BATTERY.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 14, 1909.

Patented June 25, 1919.

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@im 9@ im HORACE DE maarre, or LoNnoNjzaiieLaNu 'ELECTRIC BATTERY. j i

Specioatign of Letters Patent.

Application med August 14, 1909. man it. 513,195...

To all it may concern Be it known that I, HORACE DE Mamas, a j

subject ofthe King of Italy, and residing at 29 Charing Cross road, London, England, have invented-certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Electric Batlvteries, of which the following a specification.

This invention relates to the separation of electrodes in electric accumulatore by means of inert material such as cellulose, the object. being to provide a separator which is substantially pure cellulose but is of a porous nature or arranged so as to permit of thcfree passage through it of the electrolyte, and further to enable such a separator to be reduced easily and economically.

he invention consists in producing a separator by l taking a woven vegetable fabric, treating it insuch a vmanner as to remove all impurities such as fat, resin, wax, pectic acid and the like, and so as to leave only the fibrous part viz., the cellulose; and then inserting the same between the electrodes to be separated, the' separator being sim ly-laid against the paste on the electro es and vbeing quite independent'thereof so that it is notimpregnated with or rendered impervious by the paste.

It will be understood that the pectic acid mentioned above is produced by the fer` mentation of the pectose in the maceration process i. e. the process ofstceping the raw material in water. The se arating medium is of a porous nature allowlng of ready percolation of the acidulated liquid but preventing short circuiting of the plates. Moreover it is very light and thin allowing of the plates being packed closely together.

It is obvious that with the perforated celluloidl or ebonite separators only those parts of the electrodes which face one an` other across the perforations take partito the full extent in the electrolytic yaction. The same difficulty hasup to the present time also been found in se arators of vegev table tissue,y thecellulose` orming a resistance to the electrolytie action and permit- `ting; such action only in the interstices of` the separator the onlvexception being wood separators, which split and cause short-cir-y cniting. In vcgetableseparators constructed or prepared in accordance with my invcntion those objections have been overcome and my separator is porous at every point because the fiber is not destroyed so that a much greater capacity can be, obtained from .a given size of plate or trode surface. Vegetable -tissues present a great resistance to the passage of the curv rent by reason of the foreign matters Whi they contain, namely .nitrogenous fatty, waxy, resinous, etc., matters and these are. removed as hereinafter described.

I-n carrying the invention into effect in one convenient manner the separating elements are made of vegetable, woven or tex- Patentediu'n tile fabric from which the foreign substances such as fat, resin, wax, pectic acid, and the like are extracted by means of cupro'us ammoniacal solution and'leaving on y the fibrous part. `Great care must be taken that the vegetable tissues do not rcmain too longr in Contact with the above solution for if the treatment is continued too long, not only will the foreign suhstances be extracted but the fibrous portion will be dissolved. 'Iwo days treatment is usually found long enough to separate the foreign substances.

According to another method the nitrogenous fatty, waxy, resinous, etc., matters are dissolved for example in alcohol or ether. They may also be eliminated by continuous boiling, referably under a pressure .of 5 to 6 atmospllieres. Itis also necessary to eliminate the pectic acid which roduced in the maceration process by the termentation of the pectose, and which is injurious to the accumulator. For this purpose the tissue is treated in an animoniacal or alkaline solution, care being taken that the immersion of the tissue does not exceed 24 io 30 hours.

This matter does notA dissolve in alkaline carbonatos but combines with them and displaces the carbonio acid. The separating medium is preferably made tocompletely envelop the pluto so as to eliminate any possibility of' short circuiting.

Such construction is .illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 'l shows a View of an electrode or plate a, enveloped infthe separating medium I), Fig. 2 being a perspective view of 'portions of a plurality of plates or electrodes a enveloped in separating medium b, the plates being arranged luirizontally.

Having now described my invention what l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters lateut is l. ln a secondary electric buttery, plates or electrodos, and a separating medium betweenn said plates o' electrodes c :onsist' rof fabi/'ic which has been. treted, after we`av` 10 ,a vegetable woven fabric which has l fing, so asv to leave only'a Woven cellulose treated, after weaving, so n s to leave only a. fa' ric the strands of which are porous.4 woven Aeellulose fabric the strands of which In testimon whereof'I aix vmy signature 5 are porous. f in presence o two witnesses. 2.111 n gecondy electric batte plates Y HORACE DE MARTIS. \or (electrodes, in'd'n 'separating m lum be- Witnesses: .y tween and.inde ndent of :saidy lates orl BERTRAM H. MATTHEWS, y;

electrodes of a-vegetab e woven R. KERSLAKE. Y 

